Thursday, February 25, 2010

Poetry - O Lovely Lie

by Robert Service

I told a truth, a tragic truthThat tore the sullen sky;A million shuddered at my soothAnd anarchist was I.Red righteousness was in my wordTo winnow evil chaff;Yet while I swung crusading swordI heard the devil laugh.

I framed a lie, a rainbow lieTo glorify a thought;And none was so surprised as IWhen fast as fire it caught.Like honey people lapped my lieAnd peddled it abroad,Till in a lift of sunny skyI saw the smile of God.

If falsehood may be best, I thought,To hell with verity;Dark truth may be a cancer spot'Twere better not to see.Aye, let a lie be big and boldYet ripe with hope and ruth,Beshrew me! but its heart may holdMore virtue than the truth.